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Veterinarians honored at annual convention

Posted Aug. 15, 2001

At the AVMA Annual Convention in Boston, several talented individuals were honored with awards, recognizing their illustrious contributions to veterinary medicine. Dr. James E. Nave, AVMA president, presented the awards at the FleetCenter during the General Session, July 14, co-sponsored by Bayer Corp. and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc.

Dr. Collinson's professional involvement began in 1948 as a member of the California VMA. He served as the organization's president from 1964-1965. He has also chaired the CVMA Required Continuing Education Task Force and is a member of the membership, public relations, and ways and means committees.

Dr. Collinson is also a leader in veterinary philanthropy. In 1963, he was one of the founding directors of the American Veterinary Medical Foundation. He has had a number of roles during his 38-year affiliation with the AVMF, including serving as its chairman since 1998.

In 1985-1986, Dr. Collinson was president of the AAHA. He also has served terms on the AVMA Council on Public Relations as well as the Council on Veterinary Service, and was elected chairman of the latter in 1989.

He was the AVMA liaison representative to the National Association of Poison Information Network and is currently in his 15th year on the AVMA/AAHA Pet Food Advisory Committee.

Dr. James K. Payne

AVMA Public Service AwardDr. James K. Payne (KSU '55) of Tarpon Springs, Fla., received the AVMA Public Service Award for outstanding contributions to public health and regulatory veterinary medicine.

As the USDA's director of the Federal-States Relations Staff, Dr. Payne assisted Congress with developing vital language used in the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967 and the Wholesome Poultry Act of 1968.

Early in his 28-year career with the USDA, Dr. Payne called on experience gained while in the Army Veterinary Corps to enable him to adapt Acceptance Quality Level principles and improve certain inspection tasks. Several years later, these principles were applied throughout the federal inspection system.

Dr. Payne also established the USDA system for timely response to consumer, industry, and congressional inquiries regarding a wide range of agency activities and policies.

He was a founding member of the American Association of Food Hygiene Veterinarians and an active leader in the National Association of Federal Veterinarians. A member of the AVMA House of Delegates for 23 years, he was instrumental in the development of the House of Delegates Advisory Panel in 1999. He is also a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.

Victoria Goss

AVMA Humane AwardVictoria Goss received the AVMA Humane Award for humane efforts on behalf of animals and exceptional compassion for animal welfare.

Goss has saved more than a thousand horses and foals during her 15 years as president of the Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio. Her program is devoted to rehabilitating mistreated and ill horses and offering them for adoption to compassionate owners. Goss rescues about 75 full-grown horses and a large number of foals each year. She has been active in promoting and ensuring the welfare of horses for the past 35 years.

Dr. Kathyrn Blair Jones

President's AwardThree veterinarians at diverse stages in their careers but making their mark on organized veterinary medicine received the AVMA President's Award. Dr. James E. Nave, who has since finished his term, chose as this year's award recipients Drs. Kathryn Blair Jones, Janet D. Donlin, and Sherbyn W. Ostrich.

Established in 1990, the President's Award is given to individuals inside and outside veterinary medicine who have had a positive impact on animal or public health, veterinary organizations, and the profession. Dr. Nave called the award recipients his mentors and friends.

Dr. Jones (TUS '98) was honored for her initiative in addressing the future of veterinary medicine through her service as chair of the Mentoring Subcommittee of the AVMA Member Services Committee. She has worked in mixed practices and with wildlife rehabilitators treating injured raptors, mammals, and rodents.

Dr. Janet Donlin

While working in her home state of North Carolina, Dr. Jones was encouraged by a friend and mentor to become more active in the AVMA. Shortly afterward, she got involved with the Member Services Committee during its formative stages in 2000. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where she raises and shows Labrador Retrievers.

Dr. Donlin (MIN '81), AVMA associate executive vice president, was honored for her leadership during the organizational and developmental phase of the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues. Her duties at the AVMA include serving as director of the Executive Division, which encompasses the Centers for Information Management and Marketing Department. She is also an ex officio trustee of the AVMA Group Health and Life Insurance Trust and recently completed her service as interim CEO of the NCVEI.

Dr. Sherbyn W. Ostrich

Dr. Donlin joined the AVMA in 1991 as assistant director of the Scientific Activities Division after spending 10 years in veterinary technician education. During that period, she served as director of two veterinary technology programs.

Dr. Ostrich (UP '63) was selected for engendering a greater awareness of the changing economics of veterinary medicine.

Dr. Ostrich is a past president of the AVMA and Pennsylvania VMA and has been in private practice for more than three decades. In that time he has contributed substantially to organized veterinary medicine. He penned the editorial, "Veterinarians and animal rights: A relationship of ambivalence," published in 1988 in the JAVMA. Dr. Ostrich was the first recipient of the University of Pennsylvania Bellwether Award for Leadership and is a charter member of the NCVEI.

Dr. Robert O. Jacoby

Charles River PrizeAs professor and chairman of the section of comparative medicine at Yale University since 1987, Dr. Robert O. Jacoby (COR '63) has focused his career on the rapid diagnosis and characterization of rodent diseases caused by coronaviruses, poxviruses, and parvoviruses.

Under Dr. Jacoby's direction, Yale has received international acclaim for pioneering work in the pathogenesis of several important viruses.

Dr. Jacoby has served on various professional committees, is a frequent speaker at international symposia, and is the current editor of Comparative Medicine.

Dr. Richard L. Witter

American Feed Industry AwardAn adjunct professor at Michigan State University, Dr. Richard L. Witter (MSU '60) has made his mark on agricultural science by discovering factors that can control Marek's disease.

Through his systematic studies of the disease's natural biology, Dr. Witter developed or co-developed five of the seven licensed vaccine virus strains and established parameters for the natural evolution of the virus' virulence. His work has proven valuable for studying virus-induced cancer.

He has served on numerous committees of the USDA, American Association of Avian Pathologists, and other organizations.

Dr. John R. Gorman

The K. F. Meyer/James H. Steele Gold Headed Cane AwardDr. John R. Gorman (WSU '46), professor in the department of veterinary microbiology and pathology of the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, also collaborates with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Animal Disease Research Unit.

His research efforts are prized in the United States and abroad. Presently, Dr. Gorham is studying the horizontal transmission of Aleutian disease caused by parvovirus infection in mink and the influence of the Chediak-Higashi syndrome on mink mortality rates. Hartz Mountain Corporation sponsored the award.

He is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists and the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine.

Dr. James A. RothDr. James A. Roth

XIIth International Veterinary Congress PrizeAs executive director of the Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics, Dr. James A. Roth (ISU '75) has traveled to every continent to promote the control of infectious diseases in animals. The USDA and Iowa State University, where Dr. Roth is also a distinguished professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, jointly organize the IICAB.

Dr. Roth is also working to improve the ability of U.S. veterinarians to recognize and respond to outbreaks of foreign animal disease to protect U.S. trade and has served as the major or co-major professor for 35 MS -and PhD-degree students.

Dr. John Osborn

Student AVMA awardsJohn Osborn, PhD, professor of physiology at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, received the Student AVMA Teaching Excellence Award for Basic Sciences.

Dr. Osborn uses humor, film clips, and his own experiences to convey the concepts of physiology to first-and second-year veterinary students. Dr. Osborn said his biggest challenge is to be entertaining enough to get students to show up for class on wintry Minnesota mornings.

The students have clearly responded, as he has been named the Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine's Outstanding Teacher every year since 1997.

Dr. Clarke has been an inspiration to his students, instilling confidence, fostering a desire to improve, and emphasizing the use of critical thinking. When Dr. Clarke walked to the podium at General Session to receive his award, a group of Purdue students gave him a standing ovation, and belted out the Purdue fight song.

Dr. Clarke is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Drs. Osborn and Clarke each received an etched glass award and $250.

Dr. E. Gregory MacEwen

The AKC Career Achievement Award in Canine ResearchLucy Clore, sister of Dr. E. Gregory MacEwen, accepted the 2001 American Kennel Club Career Achievement Award in Canine Research on his behalf. Dr. MacEwen died suddenly in May (see obituary in the June 15 issue of the JAVMA).

His research was lauded as "novel, beneficial to the treatment of canine cancer, and providing significant translational information for human cancer."

In the spirit of his commitment to cancer research, Dr. MacEwen's family, the AKC, and the American Veterinary Medical Foundation agreed it most appropriate that the award's $5,000 honorarium be donated in Dr. MacEwen's name to the Animal Cancer Treatment Fund at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Dr. MacEwen was a member of the faculty at the School of Veterinary Medicine.

During his 25 years investigating the disease, he published numerous articles on clinical research conducted on cancer in dogs. The last 15 years of this career were directed toward evaluating the role of systematically activated macrophages and genetically modified autologous tumor vaccines as adjunct therapies for micrometastatic disease.